L. Worth Harris grew up near Charlotte, North Carolina, a city that became a hub of the freight business in the early and middle of the twentieth century. Harris contributed to this development, starting his own trucking company in the early 1930s shortly after graduating from business school. In this interview he describes navigating the powerful unions, shipping textiles to New York City, and ultimately selling his business rather than merging with another one in the mid-1960s. He also seeks to explain why trucks replaced trains as the region's principal transportation vehicle, and why Charlotte became a center of the freight business. This interview offers a look at the growth of an important southern business.

The Southern Oral History Program transcripts presented here on
Documenting the American South undergo an editorial process to remove
transcription errors. Texts may differ from the original transcripts
held by the Southern Historical Collection.

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